The proposed Energy East pipeline appears to be stoking old national unity wars, dividing some of Canada’s most influential municipal, provincial and federal politicians.

Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose, an Alberta MP, said Monday that opposition to the project in Quebec and other parts of Canada is affecting the country’s unity and increasingly being compared by westerners to the once-despised National Energy Program.

Alberta’s NDP energy minister also weighed in Monday on the pipeline battle, saying that “fear-mongering” and “shaking your fists” over projects such as Energy East isn’t helping the discussion.

The debate over TransCanada’s $15.7-billion Energy East pipeline, which would ship oilsands crude from northern Alberta to Quebec and on to New Brunswick, has sparked intense emotion – prompting some to draw a metaphorical line in the oilsands.

Pressure is quickly mounting on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to step in and heal the wounds that are re-opening over a pan-Canadian pipeline project that is rekindling old regional battles.

“I’ll tell you that I’m hearing from Albertans and people in Saskatchewan that this is just like the NEP (National Energy Program). That’s what they say. This is just like back in the ’80s when the last government opposed, put strict measures in place that deflated the Alberta and Saskatchewan and British Columbia economy, that affected the resource sector. ”

The NEP – a program introduced by Pierre Trudeau’s government in the early 1980s – artificially set domestic oil prices lower than the world price, steering energy exploration out of Alberta. It was a crushing economic blow to the energy sector that was compounded by a collapse in world oil markets. Angry Albertans punished federal Liberals at the polls in multiple election campaigns. The West’s anger with the NEP contributed to the rise of the Reform Party and Stephen Harper’s involvement in federal conservative politics.

The current Energy East pipeline project was opposed last week by Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and 81 other mayors from surrounding municipalities. They argued the pipeline would mean minimal economic gain for their region but unacceptable environmental risk.

Their comments prompted Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall to take a shot at Quebec over how much it receives in equalization payments, while Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi also criticized Coderre for his position on the project.

Ambrose said Monday that Energy East is a “nation-building project” and called on Trudeau to “show leadership” on the file, publicly declare his support for pipelines and help bring Coderre, a former Liberal MP, onside for the project.

Trudeau’s “lack of leadership on this issue is creating divisions in the country,” she said in the House of Commons.

The prime minister fired back that his government was working to create the proper environmental oversight and public support, which the former Conservative government had been unable to achieve during almost a decade in power.

“It’s interesting … that the members opposite are criticizing us for not getting done in 10 weeks what they were unable to do in 10 years,” Trudeau said in the House of Commons.

“We are working very hard right across the country with municipal leaders and with provincial leaders to ensure we are creating the social licence, the oversight, the environmental responsibility, and the partnership with communities to get our resources to market in a responsible way, because that is what it takes in the 21st century.”

Trudeau said later he has a meeting scheduled with Coderre “shortly.”

Ambrose, meanwhile, invited the Montreal-area mayors to visit Alberta to better understand how dire the situation is in the West. She said that while in Calgary last week, she heard the words “panic” and “despair,” noting there are almost 100,000 people out of work in the energy sector.

“There is a lot of people suffering in Western Canada and there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.

She attacked Trudeau for “insulting” Canadians who work in the energy sector when he said last week, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he wants Canada to be known for its resourcefulness, not just its resources.

“I say to Mr. Trudeau, you need to state publicly that you support the construction of pipelines,” she told reporters. “Canadians whose jobs hang in the balance in this sector want to hear that they have a prime minister that sticks up for them, that actually cares about this sector, and we haven’t heard that yet, and he needs to do that.”

Trudeau offered support last week to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s efforts to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and get her province’s landlocked oilsands crude to market.

Notley received a tentative backing for the Energy East project from Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who lauded the Alberta NDP government for its efforts to combat climate change.

On Monday, Alberta Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd noted the NDP government won some support from Wynne and the prime minister last Friday as Alberta works behind the scenes to discuss market-access issues.

Asked about concerns in B.C. and in Quebec about the potential for pipeline spills, the minister said, “I think sitting down and talking to the parties involved (helps). I don’t like the idea of playing it out in the media.

“At the end of the day… pipelines need to be discussed on their merits. The more educated people are on what’s happening – you know, the fear-mongering isn’t helping,” McCuaig-Boyd said.

“The beating your chest and shaking your fists for the last few years, that’s not helpful.”

The Energy East project would carry up to 1.1 million barrels of oilsands crude a day from Alberta as far as an Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, N.B.

The project would convert an existing natural gas pipeline to oil between Saskatchewan and Cornwall, Ont. New sections of pipeline would need to be built in Alberta, parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Eastern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

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